Of course, Congress should approve a measure to prevent steep cuts in amounts the Medicare program would pay health care providers. And of course President Barack Obama should sign it into law.

Otherwise, many doctors and other health care professionals will stop accepting Medicare patients. That could have catastrophic consequences for some.

But at some point, voters ought to be asking why this trip was necessary.

Lawmakers and presidents have to take special action to prevent reimbursement reductions under Medicare, Medicaid and other programs on a fairly regular basis. That is because they approved the cuts in the first place.

Part of the president’s Obamacare program called for taking tens of billions of dollars from the Medicare program. Just last April, the White House acted unilaterally to reverse some of those reductions.

They are approved in the first place to make programs such as Obamacare look less costly than is the case. Presidents and members of Congress alike know they can claim government “savings” for such cuts – then, just months later, cancel them as a result of public pressure.

It amounts to a scheme – and it is a bipartisan one – that contributes to the runaway growth of government. Time after time, however, the politicians get away with it – as, once again, they will do within the next few weeks.